Tomorrowland

On a flight from Singapore to Tokyo, my conversation with the man sitting next to me took a sad turn. He’s a merchant marine on his way back to sell his condo in Boston and build his new house on 12 acres in Maine. He said,

“When the nukes go off in about eight years from now, radioactive fallout will be driven across much of the Mid-Atlantic, but the currents won’t reach Maine.”

He asked what I do and I replied that I equip people from many nations with a gospel of hope to do practical service in every sphere of influence. He said he’s a Christian too, but then he said:

“People aren’t prepared for the end times.”

It seems we have two very different views of the future. Two very different gospels.

One, I believe, is filled with fear and despair resulting in desperate acts of self-protection. The other is marked by faith and hope for a future that ultimately fulfills Christ’s great commission to “make disciples of all nations.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

Though perils of the fallenness of our humanity and the wicked schemes of our adversary may tragically affect some of us, I believe God’s will is to complete that which he began. He watches over all of his Word to perform it. (Jer. 1:12)

On this same flight, caught a Disney movie called Tomorrowland. George Clooney stars in this apocalyptic story of a future. I’ll not spoil it for you, but I will give you a central theme. Casey, a teenage girl recalls a story with a question her father, a NASA scientist, told her when she was a small child. It goes like this:

“Two wolves lived in the wilderness. One is despair and hopelessness. The other is hope and possibility. Which one survives?”

ANSWER:

“The wolf that survives is the one you feed.”

I offered a suggestion to my new friend that he consider Abraham’s prayer for his neighboring cities. Abraham appealed to God to hold back his judgment if only ten righteous people could be found there. (Gen. 18:32)

God responded to the prayers of one person who believed he can be appealed to for a different future. Today there are about 2.5 billion Christians living all over this planet. Sadly, not all of those believers are in a conversational relationship with God. Not all are “feeding” hope and possibility. Not all are dreaming God’s big dreams for all humanity and all of his creation.

We don’t know better than God, but he will respond when we talk to him and listen. He has dreams for tomorrow and for every tribe, and tongue, and nation.